The Maharashtra State Board for Secondary and Higher Secondary Education will be providing, for the first time, a time concession to autistic pupils, appearing for the secondary school certificate examinations, which begin on Thursday.

A statement released by the board's Pune division read, "Pupils suffering from autism will now be permitted 20 minutes additional for a one-hour exam, 40 minutes for a two-hour exam, 50 minutes for a two-and-a-half-hour exam and 60 minutes for a three-hour exam".

In addition to this, these pupils will also be permitted to make use of computers, the statement further read.

This makes the SSC board the second board, after the CBSE board, to give a concession to autistic students.

The statement said that as many as 51,514 students from Pune city, 18,762 students from Pimpri-Chinchwad and 53,945 from Pune rural will appear for the examination.

The paper will begin at 11 am. The bar code system on answer sheets will be continued from last year.

The examinations will be held under tight police security, along with the flying squads, appointed by the Board, to keep a check on proceedings.